On its 17th edition, previously known as the “Art+Communication”, the RIXC's annual festival manifests the ‘post-media’ situation by changing its title and focus. From the festival's initial focus on implications of information & communication technologies, it now makes a shift to broader and more contemporary discourse on art and science, culture and sustainability, with particular interest on exploring and building ‘techno-ecological’ perspective.

This year's festival exhibition Data Drift showcases works by some of the most influential data designers of our time, as well as by artists who use data as their artistic medium. How can we use the data medium to represent our complex societies, going beyond ‘most popular’, and ‘most liked’? How can we organize the data drifts that structure our lives to reveal meaning and beauty? How to use big data to ‘make strange’, so we can see past and present as unfamiliar and fresh?

If painting was the art of the classical era, and photograph that of the modern era, data visualization is the medium of our own time. Rather than looking at the outside worldwide and picturing it in interesting ways like modernist artists (Instagram filters already do this well), data designers and artists are capturing and reflecting on the new data realities of our societies.

A broad festival program festival will feature the 1st edition of RENEWABLE FUTURES – a new conference series in the Baltic Sea and North European region that aims to invent new avenues for more sustainable and imaginative future developments. It will shape new contact zones between traditionally separated domains – art and science, academic research and independent creative practices, sustainable businesses and social engagement in the 21st century. The 1st conference edition will take place in Riga, from October 8–10, 2015, and it will primarily focus on exploring the transformative potential of art in the post-media conditions.